Max Verstappen kicked-off the F1 2023 pre-season test on top from Fernando Alonso in Bahrain with Carlos Sainz in third.
Only Red Bull’s Verstappen did the whole day in the RB19 which was shown to the public for the first time since its livery launch in New York. The Dutchman did a 1m32.837s lap in the morning session which remained as best to end Day 1 of F1 2023 test in Bahrain.
He held the time for long along with Ferrari’s Sainz in second but the Spaniard was pushed to third in the afternoon after Fernando Alonso (1m32.866s) slotted in second, finishing only 0.029s behind Verstappen to raise some eyebrows in the paddock.
Sainz (1m33.253s) was third from Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc who took over the SF-23 from the Spaniard in the afternoon. McLaren’s Lando Norris improved in the final hour to be fifth – despite brake issues – and pushed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to sixth in the process.
Williams’ Alexander Albon was seventh then with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu eighth as Mercedes’ George Russell and Williams’ Logan Sargeant rounded out the Top 10. The returning Nico Hulkenberg was 11th in his Haas.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was 12th after some work on his front of the car. AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries was 13th from Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugivich. The Brazilian stepped in for injured Lance Stroll in the morning session before handing to Alonso.
He caused the day’s lone red flag due to electrical issue right at the start of the session. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was 16th from Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 18th and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen 19th.
It was relatively smooth run for most of the F1 teams with few offs from selected drivers. There were no major mishaps with F1 also testing the Virtual Safety Car system towards the end of both the morning and afternoon sessions.
In terms of lap times, Verstappen did the most with 157 against his name. Despite drivin solely, Red Bull did the most laps as well in the end, wit Mercedes coming close with 152 where Hamilton did 83 and Russell completing 69. Third were Williams with 149 where Sargeant did 75 and Albon completing 74.
#F1 #HappyTesting #F1Testing CHECKERED FLAG !! Times at 5:30pm CET. That's it for day 1 of testing at @BAH_Int_Circuit . Verstappen tops the morning (1:32.9) and the afternoon session (1:32.8). He did 157 laps. No big issues today. More fun tomorrow. #MsportXtra pic.twitter.com/gWzL24I8Sa
— #MsportXtra © (@MsportXtra) February 23, 2023
Here’s the Bahrain F1 test line-up: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-bahrain-test-driver-line-up-running-schedule-and-more/